Preheat oven to 400. Lay bacon strips on foil lined rimmed baking sheet. Brush one side with bourbon. Sprinkle with half of brown sugar. Turn slices over and repeat. Bake the bacon for 15-17 minutes until crispy and carmelized. Remove from oven. Transfer bacon slices to wire rack and and allow to cool. Once cool, chop bacon into small bite size pieces.

Line a large 13×17 rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Turn oven on to 200F. Put in baking sheet to keep warm. Butter or spray Pam on a rubber spatula and set aside.

Mix together pecans and candied bacon pieces in a bowl and set aside. Measure out vanilla and baking soda in small bowls so they’re ready to be added when ready.

In a large heavy bottomed pot over med-high heat, stir the sugars, corn syrups, water and salt together until sugar dissolves. Turn the heat up to high and cook, stirring frequently until boiling.

Add the butter and stir. Attach a candy thermometer to the side of your pot. Cook without stirring until mixture reaches 230F. Stir mixture and continue cooking, stirring as needed, until mixture reaches 280F.

Add the bacon and nuts to mixture. Stir to combine. It will be hard at first but will loosen as it heats back up. Cook and stir until mixture reaches 300F. (Remove baking sheet from oven during this time)

Once mixture reaches 300F, turn off heat under pot. Add in vanilla and baking soda and stir until dissolved. (The baking soda will cause the mixture to foam and turn a lighter color.)

Carefully pour this mixture onto your warmed baking sheet. Using a buttered spatula, spread the mixture into a thin layer. Allow to cool completely before cracking into bite sized pieces.

Keeps about a week if stored in an airtight container.

Enjoy!!!! Gift to friends or eat it all. ❤️

I made 2 batches & it was enough for 9 roughly 7oz gifts for the neighbors.

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We went all the way to Oak Glen and all I got was this one damn picture. No nice family time, no (good) memories, NO APPLES. After 15 miserable minutes, we decided to throw in the towel and try again … Continue reading →

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“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
― Melody Beattie

I’m so grateful for this AWOW family.

There’s much more to this story, but I can honestly say that these events have been VITAL to our acceptance and embracing of Noah’s Autism.

A Walk On Water, Surfers Healing, The Askate Foundation… these 3 groups have helped turn something that we fought against for a long time into something that I wouldn’t change for the world.*

I have so much more to say about this, but wanted to share this video tonight. It’s only 2 minutes and I can’t get through it without crying. It captures the days perfectly.

*Along with a select few extremely special teachers and aides! You know who you are. ❤

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He had been so excited in the weeks leading up to Saturday. But when Saturday finally came… From the minute he woke up, it was all “I don’t want to go surfing today.”

The anticipation is sometimes just too much. And most of the time, when Noah gets an idea in his head, forget it.

But I just tried to keep it casual. Ignore the protests and not make a big deal about what was coming up. Thankfully, he was in a later group. Plenty of time to adjust and play before he had to go.

And when it was time, he just went.

We handed him off to the sweet girls who get him dressed in his wetsuit and life jacket. And like every other time, Noah just surrendered. No questions, no hesitations, no protests. A little giggle about how cold the wet wetsuit was, but that’s it.

I wish I knew their secret.

We had a bit of a wait at the water for a surfer. I expected him to lose his nerve. I expected a fit. Instead we got a lovely volunteer who held his hands while he jumped in the waves.

And then Nick and Izzy came in. Nick Hernandez is a super cool long time Surfers Healing volunteer. I was pretty excited that he might take Noah out. But another boy was ahead of Noah & went with Nick.

And Noah got Izzy.

Which is just so cool. This man. This wonderful man and his beautiful family have dedicated their lives to giving back to families like ours. And at the same time, being a family like ours! It’s inspiring.

Noah had a blast. He’s smiling in almost all of the pictures (400+) that I took. He looks relaxed. (!!!) He came out begging to go back in. At one point, after I told him that he couldn’t go again because his turn was over, he told me to pretend that his name was Caden. So that he could have another turn.

The whole day was fun. I can’t get enough of being on a beach with hundreds of other families and feeling no judgement. Just happiness. You can’t help but smile as you look around. So much excitment and wonder. Seeing these tough looking surfer guys, who normally would intimidate me to no end, being so excited about a ride they just took with one of our kids. It’s unreal. The volunteers (and there are a lot of them!) are all so amazing.

They should hand out angel wings and halos along with the red volunteer shirts.